Port Inventory and Port Pick-up Volume of Iron Ore on June 13

As of June 13, SMM data showed that the total inventory at 35 ports was 137.22 million mt, an increase of 1.13 million mt from the previous week. The daily average port pick-up volume of imported ore was 2.909 million mt, a decrease of 107,000 mt from the previous week. Port arrivals returned to normal this week, increasing slightly WoW. On the buyer side, due to the recent decline in steel mill profits, some steel mills have begun to formulate annual blast furnace maintenance plans, leading to a decrease in pig iron production. This has weakened the demand support for iron ore concentrates, and port pick-up volume has also shown a downward trend. Overall, port inventory increased slightly this period. Looking ahead to next week, based on SMM tracking data, pig iron production of steel mill blast furnaces may continue to decline, port pick-up volume may fall short of expectations, and overall port inventory may continue to increase slightly.